Identity of pusher? - BIG SPOILERS!!

All of the arguments about who the pusher is (Bulscu, C., Worker...) are valid, because possibly the identity of the pusher could be more than just death, or fear, or evil. Perhaps he is a common thread through all of these people, and that's why each person could exhibit characteristics of the pusher, or conversely, why the pusher could exhibit characteristics of each of them. His identity might be less about death, fear or evil, and more about the fact that these emotions/characteristics can and perhaps do exist in all people... maybe in all of us there's a little destruction that runs in the little labyrinth (metro system) that is our brain.

Besides, things with definitive answers are boring.

In all honesty ... I don't have a clue what this movie is about. All the theories sound compelling and, given I'm unfamiliar with the culture of Hungarian cinema and know nothing about the director, I likely won't ever know what Kontroll means -- whether it recounts the salvation of a fallen angel, or if it serves as a metaphor for the class divisions of post-communist Hungary, etc. They all sound like good theories -- they're as entertaining as the movie itself and as deep as the movie seems to be.

One possible idea I was kicking around: The whole thing is a mind trip exploration of self actualization a la Kafka's Metamorphosis or Hesse's Demian. The subway system is a metaphor for B's unconscious or subconscious mind -- each character represents different, and often at odds, impulses within B's mind. B may be a very conflicted, possibly demented, character, and the plot represents his strive for stability or sanity. The pusher, in this case, isn't necessarily a bad man -- he takes out B's mental trash -- the weaker or less desirable or whatever aspects of B's inner mind. He's cleaning house. Of course, he poses a threat to B's core personality -- the pusher could very well "trash" B's core. Kinda like that Cusack film "Identity."

By the end, however, B gains "control" over the pusher -- or, at least, overcomes him to such a degree that B is able to achieve a higher, more stable conscious -- a feminine consciousness, perhaps? Is that what "saves" him? Will he stay "saved"? Maybe. Maybe not. Keep in mind that B wasn't ALWAYS underground. A relapse, of course, could be possible -- even if the stairs only go up. And the pusher won't ever die -- he's as much a part of B as your immune system is a part of you. He didn't get splattered, did he?

Who knows? The subway official who greets the viewer on my edition of the disc maintains that the entire movie is symbolic. What it's symbolic of ... I have no idea.

Still, here's another theory. And this might be REALLY out there, but ...




... Kontroll is a movie about a madman who runs around the Hungarian subway system, tossing people in front of trains.

_Richard

What did the director want to say with the scene at the end of the movie when Bulcsú is running from the train and the pusher is running behind him? Bulcsú got away but the pusher didn't make it and died.

Well, maybe that the evil side of Bulcsú was the pusher and that it died/left him when it got hit by the train (leaving only the good side of Bulcsú left). Wich in turn allowed Bulcsú to leave everything behind him and go up to the real world...

You can see the bottom half of the pusher's face when he walks toward Bulscu. Look at it in stop motion.

It is actor Gyozo Szabo,
http://www.port.hu/picture/instance_2/11202_2.jpg
not the character Bulscu


I'm pretty sure that whoever said it was the same character as the mechanic grinding the rail seen immediately before Bulscu mees Bela is correct. The mechanic's face is harder to see since he only turns a little towards Bulscu. But everything else about the scene fits that idea.

I wish the storyline included the capture of the pusher. A nice ending would be for Bulscu to run from the pusher on the rails. The pusher chases him down the rails while a train approaches from behinf. Buslcu makes it out but pusher is shown being totally obliterated by the train!

Very good entertaining film.

OK... so even if the Pusher was the same man as the mechanic... maybe the mechanic was just imagined by Bulcsu in that one scene. No one else ever acknowledged his presence.
I think the Pusher is the same as Bulcsu, myself; he is the darker side of him.
But get this... what if Bulcsu actually died himself at the ending "railing"? He is symbolically lead up the esculators into the bright white lights being led by the chick (who was dressed as an angel). There seems to be a basic "good vs. evil" theme throughout this film as Bulcsu battles his inner demons.
Another example would be when the girl is eating with her father, who she refers to as "an angel". The next shot he actually has an aurora over his head (bright lighting technique). He also tries to guide Bulscu in the right direction, and also symbolically is "driving" him (on the train) towards salvation.

Hi,

I just saw it last night and I haven't had much time to "digest" it yet. Most of the time I'm very literal-minded. You know, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. My initial reaction was that the lead and the slasher are two seperate entities.

Your theory is very plausible, though. One reason is that strange scene of the lead character climbing through that tunnel to the slasher's lair, at the behest of teddy bear girl. And the slasher's reaction (slasher's get scared, too ;) On the platform, right after Bootsie got it, B. closes his eyes as the slasher approaches. Not the smartest thing to do when a maniac approaches you, especially if you're unusually intelligent (as his former co-worker implies), though neither is racing a train! Also, the lack of slasher footage in the Bootsie video.

After all that, I still think they're two seperate entities. Balcsu does not have that extreem rage -- to say the least -- the slasher obviously has. If fact, Balcsu seems just the opposite. He seems more the philosophical type. Remember the reason he gave his former co-worker about not completing the project? That perfectionism-streak is a sign, to me, of someone intellectually inclined. Neurotic, probably, but that's a giant step from homicidal. Also, his choice of staying underground, literally, seems more of an escape (of his high expectations/perfectionism??), where as the slasher -- like the owl -- is a night predator, and underground it's always "night".

The "teddy bear" girl's attraction is another sign to me that he's not giving off that disturbed, murderous vibe. Women really are intuitive. They have to be. This woman is odder than most, so is prob even more intuitive. When that poor azzhole lost it & was holding a knife to that fat ass's throat, his co-workers asked B. to diffuse the situation. You'd ask someone strong, with an inner calm or wisdom to do that, not the office hothead. Their reactions to the slasher accusation spoke volumes, too. Again, if he gave off an inkling of that anger/unbalanced vibe -- and they see it everyday -- they wouldn't have been so surprised & saddened.

Lastly, it just seemed that he wanted to kick Bootsie's ass a bit. Killing him seemed WAY out of character, but if he were going to, you know he would've roughed him up first.

If the slasher is real it's because there are always monsters in the dark, especially in subterreanean lairs.

If the slasher's only symbolic, I don't think he necessarily represents Balcsu's dark side. He probably represents Man's dark side, and Balcsu is symbolic of the other side: troubled, but decent. The slasher has lost all hope, and has succumed to "the depths". Balcsu still has a little optimism left, and joins Teddy bear girl (now mothwoman??) on the escalator going UP.

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